Among the difficulties encountered in the harvesting of grain and other crops is the tendency for stalks to wrap around various parts of the combine reel of the harvester. This problem is particularly difficult with certain crops especially under moist conditions. It is farily common under many conditions for foreign material such as grain stalks to become tangled around the hinged joints of the reel. However, under some circumstances the stalks will wrap tightly around the bearings of the shafts supporting the bats and even around the entire reel. This can cause a slowdown or damage to the reel bat requiring the equipment to be stopped for cleaning. While this can happen under a variety of conditions it is especially likely to occur under wet or tough harvesting conditions or where weeds are prevalent, in which case straw and weeds tend to become wrapped on the reel in the vicinity of the reel bat bearings.
In view of these deficiencies of the prior art it is a general objective of the invention to provide a relatively mechanically simple and low cost device for reducing or eliminating the tendency for foreign materials to become caught in the reel of a combine harvester or wrapped around the reel bat in the area where the reel bat support shafts are pivoted at the free ends of the reel arms.
These and other more specific objectives and advantages of the invention will be apparent in view of the following specification and drawigs which set forth by way of example but a few of the various ways in which the present invention can be accomplished once the principles described herein are understood.